Recent years have witnessed many changes permitted as a result of advancements in technology. For example, new services that take advantage of such technological advancements are now available and are used by many.
New communication services, for instance, take advantage of such advancements in technology. Cellular communication services provided by use of cellular communication systems are exemplary of new communication services that make use of advancements in technology. Successive generations of cellular communication systems have been developed and deployed with each generation providing improved communication services and capabilities over prior generations. Various other radio communication systems have been developed and deployed that provide the advantages of cellular communication systems. These communication systems provide significant data communication capabilities.
Typically, communications by way of a cellular, or cellular-like, communication system is carried out through use of a portable wireless device, sometimes referred to as a mobile station. A portable wireless device includes transceiver circuitry permitting the sending and receiving of information. The portable wireless device is typically of compact dimensions and low weight to facilitate hand carriage of the device. A wireless device, when of such dimensions, is conveniently carried by the user, stored, e.g., in a pocket or purse of the user when not used and readily available for use whenever needed.
Some wireless devices provide additional functionalities in addition to the functionalities provided by the transceiver circuitry. Wireless devices that provide the additional functionalities form multi-functional devices, capable of performing multiple functions.
For instance, a wireless device sometimes includes camera functionality. The camera functionality, implemented, for instance, through use of a camera module, provides for the capturing of an image. A camera module is often capable of capturing both a still image and a video, formed of a sequence of image stills. Once captured, i.e., recorded, the data forming the image is subsequently displayable at either a local or remote image display element. When implemented at a wireless device, data representative of the captured image can be transmitted by way of a radio communication system in which the wireless device is operable to a remote location for storage, display, or other use thereat. A camera module sometimes also provides for the recording of video sequences, such as video sequences formed of a sequence of images. A wireless device having such capability is also typically capable of transmitting a recorded video sequence to a remote location by way of the radio communication system in which the wireless device is operable.
A camera module, either forming part of a wireless device, another type of device, or a standalone device, implemented as a digital module, utilizes digital techniques to capture a native response of incident light of a scene or subject and converts the light energy of the incident light into a digital signal, typically in the form of RGB (red-green-blue) data. The native response is sometimes represented as a bayer image that exhibits different RGB ratios at each pixel location of the sensed and captured image. The ratio at each pixel location is completely dependent upon the illuminating light source and of the scene. The RGB ratios are adjusted by an adjustment factor so that neutral subjects of the captured images appear truly neutral, ranging between white through gray and black, without any color cast, which sometimes appears as a somewhat yellow or blue color.
This adjustment, referred to as white balancing (WB) is, however, conventionally carried out using an estimation or guess of the amount of color cast in a captured image. White balancing of the captured image is then performed, using the guess or estimate. While estimation sometimes utilizes algorithms to analyze RGB distributions to estimate the amount of color casts in the captured image, such algorithms are often inaccurate, particularly when there are mixed light sources, especially when the light sources are of equal proportions. An improved manner by which to provide for white balancing of captured images is therefore needed.
It is in light of this background information related to camera functionality that the significant improvements of the present disclosure have evolved.